Rolovich is lowest-paid coach in Mountain West
ASSOCIATED PRESS
UH coach Nick Rolovich glanced up at the scoreboard during the second quarter against UNLV on Oct. 15 at Aloha Stadium.
The University of Hawaii’s Nick Rolovich earns the third-lowest base salary of 119 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches, according to a USA Today survey.
Rolovich’s contract calls for a base salary of $400,008 in this his inaugural season with the Rainbow Warriors.
Head coaches at Louisiana Monroe ($390,000) and New Mexico State ($376,044) earn less.
Salaries of Mountain West football coaches)
$1,548,480 Tim DeRuyter Fresno State
$1,450,000 Mike Bobo Colorado State
$1,300,004 Bryan Harsin Boise State
$909,000 Craig Boh Wyoming
$885,000 Troy Calhoun Air Force
$823,940 Bob Davie New Mexico
$810,632 Rocky Long San Diego State
$800,000 Matt Wells Utah State
$578,000 Brian Polian Nevada
$546,745 Ron Caragher San Jose State
$510,000 Tony Sanchez UNLV
$400,008 Nick Rolovich Hawaii
Source: USA Today survey.
UH is 4-4 (3-1 MWC) entering Saturday’s game against New Mexico.
The $400,008 places Rolovich last in the 12-member Mountain West Conference, nearly $110,00 below the next lowest-paid coach, according to numbers listed today by the paper.
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Tim DeRuyter had been the highest-paid coach in the MWC at $1,518,480 per year when he was fired Sunday by Fresno State after a 1-7 start.
The coaches of the three FBS teams UH has beaten this season have an average salary of $668,915. The four who have beaten UH average $3.7 million.
Among them is Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh who, at $9,004,000, is the nation’s highest paid, USA Today said. He could top $10 million this season with bonuses.
There are 128 team competing on the FBS level but some schools, many of them private institutions, such as Southern California, did not furnish salaries for the survey.
84 responses to “Rolovich is lowest-paid coach in Mountain West”
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OK Allie, let’s hear you’re stance on this. Obviously, you’re going to say UH is not in the entertainment business and UH is a sub-par team that would be better off playing teams of a lesser god. In fact, UH football is the driving force behind the revenue UH manufactures for it’s entire athletic department. The real hurdle that UH and the other 100 D1 schools have had to get over is Title IX. Albeit, Title IX is a good and fair way of creating equality amongst the genders, it has created a financial wall for all but the largest universities.
There is a lot to be said for what athletics bring to the table. Advertising, social extensions of the school, leadership, respect………..As long as you’ve been at UH, I would have thought you could see the benefits within…..better keep studying and someday you’ll realize how wrong you are.
I think Rolo deserves more pay for sure. He defintely deserves a bonus. But football brings in peanuts compared to the rest of the University– the departments and professors with outside research and program grants– that source contributes almost half of the UH budget. The State Legislature and Tuition pays roughly half. The football program gets a $3 Million subsidy from the state.
I hope UH knows what they have here, a real promising young coach. I would think if the team improves and attendance picks up they will take care of Coach. No one wants to go through the abyss of a coaching change. What we all have to realize is for a young coach, Hawaii is a way station on to better jobs. At some point in the future if the team really does well, Coach will get a great offer and move on. If this happens we should all be happy for him, just like when Dick Tomey went to Arizona. I think we have something good here, we should enjoy Coach Rolo while we can. The time he carried the hunting knife on the sidelines during the Nevada game, how cool is that! Here to continued success for the Warrior Football program! See you guys Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Going be a good game versus New Mexico. Come say hi to the cheeseball, I’ll be the guy in the south end zone wearing the green UH polo shirt.
Aloha – hope you are a Na Koa member too 🙂
Is the “Cheese” a Wisconsin reference??
Football does NOT get $3M subsidy from the State. The onetime $3M this year was to help address the huge deficit for the whole athletic dept. Football MAKES money, how many time does this have to be told to all you empty heads?
Right…. they make so much money in fact that they desperately needed a $3 million bailout from taxpayers to fill the whole the create year in and year out in the athletic dept. budget. Seems you failed to wear your helmet during practice one too many times?
Kriya,
If it were not for the football team, there WOULD be an annual $3M bailout. If you really want to raise some holy cane, comment on TITLE IX-this in itself is the biggest reason UH and all but 20 other universities lose money.
I think the helmet is working!
“”The football program gets a $3 Million subsidy from the state.””
Tempmanoa,
That isn’t true. The athletic department might receive some money from the state but not the football program. Even as bad as the football team did under Norm Chow, the football program was still profitable.
It’s the non revenue sports that easts up the budget. Mens and womens golf, swimming, soccer, softball, etc.
“GONEGOLFIN” … for some people it takes a long time, and in this case an eternity, for facts to “sink in” … “Allie” is a good case …
Rolo is way overpaid. He makes more than many medical school professors. Please end this expensive and embarrassing minor league program. The UH is the in the education business. Not the sports entertainment biz. UH is all about research, teaching and public service. Just let us do our job!
Heeeeereeee’s Allie!!!!!!!
Allie – Who are you??
I have been reading your posts for years, you always compare apples and oranges.
By the posts about you, sounds like you are a professional student. I work three jobs to educate my children, pay our mortgage, my student loans, etc,
Before you criticize our “minor league program” take a look at the faces of the fans, win or lose college sport programs create a lot of unseen revenue.
You want to criticize public salaries, take on our part-time politicians. They spend more time on re-elections and lining their own pockets than working for our betterment.
Go Bowz!!
Based on Allie’s response, the university also shouldn’t have dorms because the school is not a hotel. They shouldn’t have eating places because the university is not in the restaurant business.
Despite what you feel is a salary that is “too high” the football team makes a lot of money which helps to fund other sports, which means scholarships, which means that some kids who would otherwise have no ability to get a college education, will be able to represent Hawaii in a sport (good for tourism) and walk out of UH with a college degree.
What, even Volleyball????
Ha … that’s funny. UH is little more than a Democratic party slush fund used to enrich insiders with do nothing 6 figure jobs and campaign donors with state contracts for everything under the sun. Education comes in a distant second and is of questionable quality at best. About the only thing UH has going for it is affordability compared to other universities of it’s size. But then you can’t charge top dollar for mediocre education and poorly maintained facilities can you. The best thing Hawaii could do is to privatize all public schools in the state. Unionized public employees and corrupt elected officials are the problem and it can’t be fixed. Nothing will change until it has to.
Look, Rolo is a decent man. He is just overpaid. No one can blame him for taking the bloated salary offered. He had no other similar offers.
yup
Rolo deserves a Million+ a year minimum. He’s proven himself. Nough said
and since I’m at it. Ganot deserves at minimum $4000K as he’s already proven as coach taking the team to the NCAA’s last year.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. Rolo came back and accepted the contract because he and the other coaches wanted to be here, it shows his sacrifices to the school and the team. I’m sure in due time that the university will compensate him as time goes on. Look at DeReuyter and his ridiculous salary for having a few good years with players he didn’t recruit. Look at him now, bye bye and the university is in the hole.
“Amela” … I have to agree w/ you on this …
LIVE ALOHA / PLAY WARRIOR / DEFEND THE ROCK … GO ‘BOWS !!!!!
Predicted to finish just out of last place in conference. Bad example to use for Rolo and Beeman who have really done something and deserves raises and extension.
I will say this … $400K to start … he’ll prove himself a winner and Dave Matlin will give contract extensions w/ raises …
Oh, come on! You pay.
A little early – but I like your passion!
How has he proven himself? He is in his first year as head coach and has a 4-4 record. Not bad for his first year, but he needs to show he can do it for a bit longer to prove himself.
Let’s not make the same mistake we made when we lost JJ. Starting Coach Rolo on such a low salary was a sign of disrespect. He’s proven his worth. At a minimum, double his salary for the next season. That would move him to the middle of the ranks. He really should be among the top. Not enough money for the raise? No problem. Cut somewhere else. Taking advantage of a coach’s aloha for Hawaii is not only lacking in aloha but ultimately foolish.
Let’s review WHY Rolo’s pay is what it is. First, UH lost almost 15,000 football season ticket holders under Chow and along with other related losses, football generate over $3M less revenues per year. Second, UH got conned out of over $600K by Fib Arnold, Third, UH paid out $200K to buy out Jay, $300K for Apple, and much more for numerous others. Do not be short sighted here, Rolo does well and I’m sure Matlin and UH will do good for him, just like they’ve done with Ganot. And for those saying Rolo deserves $1M or more, get a brain.
If Hawaii starts winning, making bowl games and filling the stadium again, a salary of 1 million is worth it.
Agree …
LIVE ALOHA / PLAY WARRIOR / DEFEND THE ROCK … GO ‘BOWS !!!!!
With the cost of living, his money is a lot less. He agreed to this contract and UH would be prudent to raise his salary according to his performance. He has done quite well on and off the field. I would think a minimum of about 10% plus additional perks are in order. He’s a good person, let him earn it, thats the way he thinks. You earn what you get.
I’m pretty sure his base salary is enhanced with other perks like housing, revenue from his TV show, etc. What Ferd needed to do was provide Rolo’s TOTAL compensation package instead of just going by base salary. Of course, Ferd is too senile and lazy to dig that deep.
So? He still makes four times more than your average PhD credentialed professor starts at. If anyone forgets, this is a UNIVERSITY. For a well rounded student experience, sure have athletics. But not at the expense of everything else. What are we at 4-4? If you were in the private sector and hit 50% of your mark, would you be looking at getting more than $40k a month? Does Joe Blow at the office tell his boss that “hey I didn’t work on the most complicated projects, and I didn’t deal with our most problem clients, AND I only got through half of my assigned tasks…but…Cindy over there works on the same floor as me and she makes more, can I get a raise?”..no discredit to Coach Rolovich, this isn’t his article, and he isn’t making a claim for a raise at the moment…he is doing the best with what he has and probably with what he makes doing it.
Good analogy! Not sure why Ferd chose this point in the season to write an article like this. Does he think it will encourage UH administration to reconsider Rolo’s contract immediately? OK, Rolo’s doing better than previous seasons, but it’s still his first HC job, first season which is not even complete, and currently has a team in which most of the players are not his recruits. Let’s give it some time where if he produces consistent results, THEN talk about a pay raise.
I agree on why did Ferd choose this point at this time? Yes Rolovich is doing well but he walked into his contract with eyes totally open and besides, I am sure his contract provides incentive bonuses for performance. I don’t recall Ferd and even Tsai raise questions on Chow’s performance which I submit was a reason he was allowed an overextended tenure as coach as they are afraid unlike Reardon who I have much respect for.
He wrote it because USA Today came out with the list.
He wrote it because he’s too lazy to impart any original thoughts.
Actually, those were pretty stup!d analogies that @rytsuru made. 4-4 is not equivalent to hitting 50% of a corporate goal. The “goal” or expectation for UH is not to be 8-0 at this point in the season. The goal was an improvement on last season, which puts him at 100%+ of his goal. So, yeah, in a truly comparable private sector job, he deserves a pay increase. Even comparing the HC position to an average PhD professor is idot!c. Look at what Rolo has to manage personnel-wise. Look at how much revenue the football program brings in. A professor would be like the special teams coach. Rolo’s position is more analogous to the director of the Cancer Center.
I don’t think there were any expectations this year lol
I agree with you. But, in today’s value system, a successful football Coach has more value. Do you think any PHD at Michigan is making as much as Harbaugh? Thats near 4 million.
Football MAKES money, only the uneducated would make such a misplaced comparison with a professor’s salary.
So…Are you trying to justify a pay raise?…Rolo took the job knowing what he was getting into when he did. Rolo must be all good with it…Does the $400k include other monies that he receives form the booster, royalties, ticket sales etc?….this is misleading $400k lowest paid. I’m certain that when you add all the numbers up it is way over $500k +…$400,008 IS A BASE SALARY.
He really earns his money; everyone should be proud of this fine coach.
“WRIGHTJ” … AND HOPEFULLY HE’LL BE OUR COACH FOR A LONG, LONG TIME !!!!!
LIVE ALOHA / PLAY WARRIOR / DEFEND THE ROCK … GO ‘BOWS !!!!!
What’s his agent doing?
I am sure he would like more, but he is classy enough not to drain the bank and make sure his assistants are paid.
If football starts to generate more income, I am sure he will be willing to accept more.
Knowing Rolo – I have a feeling he would rather prove himself first and get paid later.
Rolo had no other offers from D-1 schools. or D-2 or D-3 schools either. He is grateful to have the chance to show what he can do in a minor market. Please don’t overpay him even more than he is overpaid.
I love college football and certainly think that Head Coaches should be paid well. Here’s the caveat—–what should paid well mean?
The only comparison I have is my own daughter who is a Special Ed teacher. She has been doing this job for nearly a decade, 8 years here in Hawaii and she recently moved up to Washington where they pay a bit more than Hawaii does.
She spent the equal number of years in college getting her Masters degree in Special ED. She has been recognized by our State as one of the top Special Ed teachers, works at it more than 40 hours a week like many teachers, but in Special Ed, one must go far above and beyond the acceptable devotion to the job.
She presently makes slightly over 50K a year. But one can throw a net over the whole teaching profession and its pretty much the same story. How important are ‘good’ teachers to the development of our kids? Very important, certainly a little more important than running a football team from whichever angle one views it.
So for me, I’d sum it up this way. Give our grade school teachers, Special Ed especially, $400K a year…and football coaches less. How much less? That would no doubt depend on your fanatical attachment to college sports. Something this country needs desperately in my opinion to ease up on.
Totally agree …on spot….The american thinking is sooooo screwed up where athletics will trump over academics in compensation for its coaches over teachers….If you think about it, TEACHERS ARE COACHES, COACHES ARE TEACHERS. Now how about compensating teachers equally!
Values have become warped over the years. What does professional sports do to make lives better? It’s only entertainment which is not needed.
Yes! We have people who can shoot a ball into a round metal hoop, hit a ball over 400 feet, or throw a ball to another person….all making millions and millions of dollars. I wonder if they can do surgery, save a person from a burning building, or teach a bunch of adolescents who really don’t want to be in school? I’m not saying sports are NOT valuable, but are they THAT valuable? If the NFL or NBA suddenly dissolved tomorrow, I don’t think I’d lose any sleep over it, but if suddenly, every single doctor quit, I’d be fearing for my life.
agree..it is obscene. Rolo is fine as a person but perhaps the pro game is better for him.
I am not a teacher but I help put people’s lives back together, but my car mechanic gets paid way more than me. So you get compensated way more to fix a car than a person’s life. Go figure
It is sad to see a teacher receiving a clerk’s pay for being entrusted in so many children’s education, futures, safety, well being. Teachers deserve more recognition, compensation, respect and considerations. Hey Mr. Governor, HS
contd:..HSTA, general public, legislators, hope you all reading this blog!
REMEMBER…It took a competent TEACHER to make a doctor, engineer, lawyer, construction worker, business person, mechanic, scientist, etc….
I’d be pissed if I was a Fresno St. fan. hahaha. As a UH fan, I understand their hurt.
folks…..very simple math….the boosters at all major college football schools make a substantial contribution each year toward the Head Coach’s salary and BENEFITS (no forget this as well, important..esp like housing allowance, car, travel for familyh, private education for their kids, medical, life insurance, dental, personal allowance, etc)…so if we want Rolo’s salary to go higher, the Boosters and downtown boys need to open there wallets and purses…
btw: Can SA do a story on the salaries for assistant football coaches….
how much is Lane “Golden Turd” Kiffin getting these days…in the $3 plus million plus bonuses…???
“Golden Turd” … Saban’s “Boy” makes $1.4
LIVE ALOHA / PLAY WARRIOR / DEFEND THE ROCK … GO ‘BOWS !!!!!
Rolovitch has to pay his dues, if he can turn UH into a winning football team then his value as a coach will go way up. The highest paid coaches are proven winners.
One way to show that “Rolo” deserves more is to get more “okoles” in Aloha Stadium for home games … I would love to see 30,000 plus “rocking the house” this Saturday vs New Mexico …
I will be there … will you ?????
LIVE ALOHA / PLAY WARRIOR / DEFEND THE ROCK … GO ‘BOWS !!!!!
@808 – There you go! Fill those seats at every game and giving Rolo a raise won’t be an issue!
Kinda makes sense. He’s a first time head coach and UH’s coaching salaries have decreased since June Jones left. Rolo is definitely showing he’s a capable head coach. If he makes the bowl game this year and next, I hope UH’s administration will reward him with a pay increase and contract extension
Yeah, a couple of more wins and UH automatically gets invited to the “made for Hawaii Bowl”.
There is something seriously wrong with a society that values sports figures and coaches over professions that really matter, i.e. science, medicine, engineering, teaching etc. etc. etc. Circuses and bread, that’s what the masses want.
Stupid AD’s having been over paying coaches for years. Do we think they are going to leave to another profession?
Rolo knows his pay as a base is enough to live on and he is young enough to grow the program and his salary as it deserves.
Lets not make the same mistake we did with Mcmackin. Rolo has the benefit of us thinking 4-4 deserves a raise because the last staff was so bad. Cmon people, let him coach a couple years before we go crazy with the money.
yes we should be robots, heads down get the work done. Some of us work really hard to enjoy the few hours a week we can forget about our own serious little lives and free our minds with a little diversion.
Actors, musicians and other entertainers make insane money – enjoy your day in the lab being entertained by that scientist.
BTW – universities get a lot of the money for salaries for education riding the backs of the sports programs!!
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Perhaps others should as well.
If we could only figure out a way to get shoe, car, clothing-line, and soft-drink endorsement dollars in the classroom, then teachers would be paid what they deserve!
…AND SELL TICKETS TO CLASSROOM LECTURES TO THE PUBLIC. AHAHAHAHAHA!!
Every game he wins give him a $10,000 bonus.
good way to make Ro;o ashamed inadequate, mad , ????again the bonus minimize the performance , the pride….. incentive should not be on the job, especially when there is tooo many variables ; SLOW it down,…increase the BASE salary ….the aristocrats are trying to legislate performance .. 🙁 🙁
No disrespect to rolo as he is an up and coming coach but who would pay $500,000.00 plus for a first time head coach? I’m sure if and when the program starts rolling , he will get what he’s worked for . Go rolo!
Roll may be the lowest paid football coach in the league but look at it this way, he makes way more than the governor and mayor combined.
In my opinion, the pay for football coaches are way out of proportion to their importance or contribution to society.
OMG I can’t take anymore of people comparing a football coach to an educator. Apples and oranges. It’s simple supply and demand. These are the salaries a quality football coach fetches. If people are so upset about football coaches making so much, why not try and become a football coach? Yes football is not a necessity, but neither are a lot of things. Would the world end if we got rid of the arts? What about psychiatrist and lawyers? The list goes on and on.
And? Until he proves himself, he is a first year coach deserving of a lower salary. After he gets more experience, then he can demand more.
THIS IS A REPEAT ‘ FORGET THE INCENTIVE IDEA ITS A CLICHE ‘Get back to Pride for job done give a large christmas bonus if necessary but do not bribe the system …gone too far with this idea next will be every teacher 🙂 what is the lesson for the children /students …we erased the pride in work ..
Most of what I’m hearing in this forum is apples and oranges. At issue is a coach’s salary, and the logical context for that is exactly what Ferd suggests: peer salaries in the MW conference. Based on performance thus far, Rolo is grossly underpaid. What a special ed teacher in the DOE earns is dreadfully unfair, but it’s irrelevant to this topic. The fact that he’s a first year HC is important, but not in the sense that most think. It may actually boost his stock. The key factor is potential and promise. Think Scott Frost, first year HC at UCF and former OC for the Ducks when Marcus was there. His record is similar to Rolo’s, and they’re both turning losing programs around. Rolo’s pedigree in coaching isn’t as glamorous as Frost’s, but it’s still rock solid. Even at this point in the season, pundits are predicting that Frost will soon be lured away by a team in one of the elite conferences. Frost’s base salary at UCF is $1.7 million. No one is coming out and saying that colleges around the country are paying very close attention at Rolo’s place in the MWC salary schedule and salivating over the possibilities — but many, I’m sure, are thinking it. Disrespect Rolo, as we did JJ, and we open the door for headhunters. What Ferd is saying, between the lines, is that Hawaii has to be smart. That’s all. And I agree.
Apples and Oranges? I don’t think so. At issue is Rolo’s salary. I give a rip that its the lowest in the Mountain West. I really think the issue and question is this: Why do we pay football coaches obscenely high salaries when compared to the country’s teachers? The answer is that are values are screwed up. Now, if you don’t understand that you’ve got a series perception problem and this is coming from a guy who loves football. I just think I’d love it just as much if we paid coaches 30K a year.
Howzit paintslinger. I agree that “our values are screwed up.” I also agree that teachers ought to be paid more than or just as much as coaches. I also think that my jokes are hilarious. But the fact is that we live in a market economy. Supply and demand. There are a lot of good teachers and a lot of positions for them, so salaries takes a dive. There aren’t a lot of HCs who can develop and sustain winning D1 football programs, so salaries shoot skyward. HCs and teachers are two distinct populations — apples and oranges. What works for apples doesn’t necessarily work for oranges.
Football coaches are highly paid because football generates money, big money if you’re a winner. Teaching by contrast generates NO money, it actually costs money. Another thing to consider is the quality of public education in Hawaii. I think teachers deserve more pay however the quality of their product (student achievement) is questionable at best. That’s why everyone that can afford private school sends their kids there instead. I blame HSTA, UHPA and all the other public worker unions that resist any attempt to change a broken system while simultaneously crying for more, more, more.
They have corrupted our elected officials and put the state on a collision course with bankruptcy.We now have Unfunded liabilities of well over 10 billion due to their influence over the democrats.
They should pay Rolo based upon performance. Compensation should be calculated based upon the revenues generated by the football team games. The more he wins, the high compensation he makes. I’m glad they are winning. Keep in mind they are coming off a terrible record last year, which justifies his less then stellar compensation.
So!?! Let’s see what he can produce before considering a salary increase.
In the end the taxpayer gets stuck with the bill. So what if he is the lowest paid head coach? Is the writer getting a cut if he can get UH gives him a raise? Perhaps it’s been motivated by his agent so he can get a bigger commission! Something is amiss when it’s news when coaches salary issues is news. What about me, my retirement is so low it below centigrade!